In my opinion, it’s homeexchange.com (the site used in the movie “the Holiday”). Having used it several times, I find it to be user friendly and cheap (for less than $100 you can list your home). I also have heard good things about intervac though have never used it. That site has a more expensive membership that doesn’t seem to have a lot of value but who knows. Like with any real estate transaction or rental, we have found you have to ask lots of questions and not be too picky about where you end up.
Has anyone tried VRBO? I understand they have a home exchange web site now…we have not exchanged our house yet but will in light of the economic slowdown.
Intervac is less expensive than homeexchange.com.
Intervac charges $95 for a full annual membership while homeexchange.com charges $99.95. Additionally, Intervac offers the industry’s only money-back guarantee to new members in the event they don’t find a home swap during the course of their membership.
Thanks for the nice words about home exchange. It’s true, except for the cost of getting there, a vacation anywhere in the world (or even close to home) doesn’t have to cost any more than staying at home.
I’m the President of HomeExchange.com and even I recommend that you look at a few sites before selecting an agency. Quantity and quality of Listings in the areas your are interested in, site features and layout, search, navigation and privacy features should all be considered. And if any of your readers want to jojn HomeExchange.com, they can enter the Discount Code easyreader and get a 20% discount.
BTW HomeExchange.com also offers a guarantee that if you don’t get an exchange in your first year of Membership, your second year is free.
Hi,
I just stumbled across your site. I have recently set up a villa exchange program, called SelectExchange.co.uk which is aimed at second home owners who want to swap their holiday villas to travel the globe. It is only £10 to join and we have some great properties in some of the worlds best resorts.
You are welcome to visit and any feeback would be great for this new development.
We have just arranged our first ever exchange from Edinburgh, Scotland to the Hudson Valley in New York through homeexchange.com and chose it over other sites as it had a good concentration of properties in the US which is where we wanted to go.
I have wanted to do an exchange for years but other commitments got in the way, now with the credit crunch it makes more sense than ever and I have to say there is no way we could afford to go from the UK to the US on a standard holiday next year.
We have found the whole process very easy and actually lots of fun (who doesn’t like wishing they lived in someone elses luxury property!!)